Saginaw Spirit beat Erie Otters, 7-1, in final game before new coach Greg Gilbert's arrival

SAGINAW -- They left the ice to a standing ovation from the home crowd, and were hooting and hollering in the locker room soon thereafter.

There's plenty of uncertainty in the coming days and weeks for these Saginaw Spirit players. But nowhere was that apparent in a 7-1 win home over Erie Sunday afternoon and an undefeated weekend spent in limbo.

In the 48 hours between Todd Watson's Saturday afternoon dismissal and new coach Greg Gilbert's scheduled Monday arrival, the Spirit put together a come-from-behind win against first-place Belleville and a no-doubt win over last-place Erie.

The players were told Saturday afternoon to treat the coaching change like the start of a new season. In the two games since then, Spirit captain Ryan O'Connor said the team played more relaxed.

"It's kind of eased us up, because there was a bit of pressure built up with Todd and whether there was going to be change or not," O'Connor said. "So everyone was uptight.

"I see the room as more relaxed. Guys are uptempo more. It's good to see."

In Sunday's win, played in front of 2,643, marked the first time in 20 games the Spirit won by more than two goals. It came against the 4-26-1-1 Otters.

Six different Spirit players scored, including third-line forwards Anthony Camara and Terry Trafford.

"That's huge," Spirit associate coach John Kisil said. "They did a great job. I think their line played really good the two games. They played with a lot of energy."

Josh Shalla scored two goals for the second straight game, and now has seven goals in his last four games.

O'Connor, Garret Ross and John McFarland also scored for Saginaw.

Goaltender Jake Paterson was the game's first star, after he stopped 43 of 44 shots sent his way. It marked the first win in a game he started since Nov. 5.

"I think the biggest thing tonight is Patter made some great saves, timely saves," Kisil said. "And then we got some timely goals."

Next up for the Spirit is the second half of the coaching change initiated Saturday. Gilbert is scheduled meet the team for the first time at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

He will be introduced to the public at a 4 p.m press conference, and coach his first game Wednesday when the Spirit travel to Sault Ste. Marie.

Gilbert is also expected to meet with Kisil and assistant coach George Daniel at that point to determine their futures with the club.

For the players, the uncertainty lies in the coming weeks, when Gilbert and new General Manager Jim Paliafito decide their trade deadline strategy.

But for now, the Spirit are showing that they are a reinvigorated team trying to prove it can make a second-half run with the players in the room.

"We have the team that can certainly do better than our record shows," O'Connor said. "Hopefully with this new coaching change we're going to turn it around 180 degrees and come back with a winning team."

Noteworthy

- Otters goaltender Devin Williams, a Saginaw Township native, watched the game from the stands behind the Otters bench. Williams, who is splitting time between Erie and the Metro Jets of the NA3HL this year, made his OHL debut last month in Kitchener.

- Defenseman Jacob Ringuette returned Sunday after leaving the team last week, and recorded his first point of the year, an assist on Anthony Camara's goal.

- Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who is in Calgary at Canada's World Junior camp, told the Canadian Press he found out about the Spirit's coaching change on Twitter.

"It came as a huge shock," Oleksiak said. "Todd's a good coach and he's done well with the program. I wish him the best obviously, but I guess management wanted to head in another direction.